Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Government Medicine The Almighty Buck United States

Trump Signs $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill (nytimes.com) 163

President Trump on Friday signed into law the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, backing a $2 trillion measure that expands on a Republican proposal issue last week called the CARES Act -- the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The New York Times reports: Under the law, the government will deliver direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses battered by the crisis. Mr. Trump signed the measure in the Oval Office hours after the House approved it by voice vote and less than two days after the Senate unanimously passed it.

The legislation will send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It will substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and for the first time will extend the payments to freelancers and gig workers. The measure will also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It will also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.
You can read the bill yourself here.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Trump Signs $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

Comments Filter:
  • by JcMorin ( 930466 ) on Friday March 27, 2020 @04:24PM (#59879584)
    From all those who vote it, do you think a single of them have read it entirely? Probably no. I think bill should be able to fit on one page. (yes I know the format is odd and there is little text per page but still).
    • Given it's a time-critical, must-pass bill I have no doubt it's full of dubious details. But if it were not, would it have passed? It's also got a lot of incomprehensible sections which alter existing laws by striking out and adding new language, so the only way to know what it's doing is to read the old law side-by-side. It could take weeks to actually understand it all. I expect everyone in congress had their staff slog through it and try to summarize the important points regarding that particular congres

    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      You could do that but it would leave the law open for wide abuse for being too vague. The way this bill was created was last few weeks bi-partisan members of congress formed committees that each wrote their own little part of the law and then they added it all together.

      After that it went through the senate, came to the house, where Chuck Schumer had built support but Nancy Pelosi didn't like it so they added a ton of pork that really has nothing to do with Coronavirus (eg. the Kennedy opera house and a ton

      • 800 pages is an overnight book for some of us.

        I didn't read the whole thing, but I did download the pdf and read the part where they're giving me $1200.

    • The House has proven the Constitution is no impediment to our form of government.

      U.S. Constitution
      Article I
      Section 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide.

      This is why they panicked when Rep Thomas Mas

    • From all those who vote it, do you think a single of them have read it entirely? Probably no. I think bill should be able to fit on one page. (yes I know the format is odd and there is little text per page but still).

      That's what staffers are for. I found a source that said a senator's staff may range in size from fewer than 20 to more than 60. Let's say 20. That's 40 pages per staffer looking for pet peeves and gotchas and things their bosses hate. Easily doable, the more, the merrier. Nothing gets past tha

    • For some reason these bills are written with only 5-7 words per line and 25 lines per page.
      If it were written in a more typical book or magazine format, I doubt it would be even 200 pages.

  • The legislation will send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child.

    Last I read, the amount will phase out for Adjusted Gross Incomes above $75k by $5 for every $100 of additional earnings.

    • by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Friday March 27, 2020 @04:58PM (#59879770)

      Yes, it basically doesn't help anyone it targets. It sends those on already existing government support more money (anyone $55k is eligible for some form of assistance). The people hardest hit in the economy except for the narrow band between $55k and $75k practically get nothing.

      It also establishes extra funds for people that don't work for up to 6 months. So it incentivizes people not to work, if you make $55k (which is the new unemployment limit under this bill), you earn less money going back to work for the next 6 months.

      It also uses your 2018 income (tax year 2019) to establish whether or not you have a job today. So if you had a good job 2 years ago and just got laid off, you get nothing. If you had a bad job and you just made $1M you get $1000.

      • to incentivize people not to work.The point is we don't want to reopen restaurants, bars, unnecessary services and retail establishments. Most likely for 90-180 days.

        There will likely be multiple rounds of this virus spiking, and if we don't keep the pressure off our healthcare system it'll collapse. People will die. And not just old folk. A 101 year old guy got it and lived, a 21 year old girl got it and died.

        But yeah, it's a terrible bill. But we have a terrible government. You were never going to
      • It also uses your 2018 income (tax year 2019) to establish whether or not you have a job today.

        I believe they will use your 2019 returns for income eligibility, if you've already file them (which I have). The phase out *starts* at $75k, not ends there, so people earning up to that amount will get the full assistance amount. Still, a one time payment doesn't really help pay the rent/expenses for very long.

        • actually its more than a one-time payment. you also get unemployment benefits (extended) for up to 4 months plus $600 - which also include the self-employed, 1099ers, freelancers, gigsters, which you would have never been eligible for otherwise.

          That means for 4 months you get the unemployment numbers from your state + an additional $600 for 4 months. After those 4 month you will continue to get state unemployment beyond 2020 (its normall 26 weeks but they added an additional 13). So you get all this on
      • Wait, you think the people who need help the most are the ones who make more than $75k a year? Did I read that right?
      • by ranton ( 36917 )

        It also uses your 2018 income (tax year 2019) to establish whether or not you have a job today. So if you had a good job 2 years ago and just got laid off, you get nothing. If you had a bad job and you just made $1M you get $1000.

        There are unemployment provisions in the bill for this scenario. No bill is going to solve for every single scenario, just cover as many situations as possible without it becoming a $4 trillion bill. People who made $100k two years ago are far more likely to have savings even if they have just been laid off, and people who are making $100k are far less likely to be the type of employees being laid off right now. I'm sure you can think up of a hundred other edge cases, but overall this bill is going to help

    • I knew they'd tie it to employment. They couldn't allow something that smells like UBI, even for a one-time payment. That would never fly.

      ::sigh::
  • but if we don't give it to them they'll tank the stock market and fire us all. Once again the richest among us hold us all hostage.

    There will be some money getting into people's hands, but there are a _lot_ of strings attached. Naturally there's half a trillion dollars of earmarked slush fund with zero strings attached.

    Meanwhile Canada, which is not nearly as wealthy as the US, has given out $2k/mo payments and the UK, poorer still, has guaranteed 80% of people's incomes.
    • $500 billion (Score:5, Informative)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Friday March 27, 2020 @04:36PM (#59879656)

      but if we don't give it to them they'll tank the stock market and fire us all.

      If by most of it, you mean $500 billion, or 25%, and by welfare you mean loans, then you are technically correct.

      • unless by some miracle Bernie Sanders gets elected President. After 2008 Obama got the loans paid back, the way he did it was go to the CEOs and say "Ok, you don't have to pay them, but we're going to take control of your company's CEO pay structure". They were paid off that week. Neither Trump or Biden would do that. Joe Biden is no Barack Obama. He can't even remember Barack Obama's name all the time (google "President My Boss").

        Here's a break down [politico.com] of some of the bill, but there's just shy of a trill
    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      There were strings attached to the so-called slush fund, but the Dems torpedoed it and demanded that half of that money now comes with no strings attached. Read the details on the pre- and post-Pelosi bill. The 'slush fund' were loans backed by the government (they had to be paid back), 50% of the new slush fund are 'grants' instead of 'loans' and exempt large corporations like Boeing because Boeing basically said "Hey, we won't take your money if there are strings attached, we'd rather go bankrupt"

  • Sorry, kids of the future. No one has read the entire thing, and only a fraction of the money is probably correctly used.
    • America is a rich country. We could do with some socialism. And if we don't take action there won't be anything left for those kids. We'll spend the next 20-30 years in a Depression that makes the Great one look like the .com boom and then start a massive war to get ourselves out of it like we did for WWII.
      • by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        "America is a rich country."

        The national debt called, it wants you to do the math.

        • by ranton ( 36917 )

          "America is a rich country."

          The national debt called, it wants you to do the math.

          If you just look at an institution's debt, and not its assets, every single company and society in the world would appear bankrupt. The US had a net worth of $106 trillion [wikipedia.org] according to Credit Suisse. This is nearly 30% of the world's wealth controlled by about 5% of its population.

          We should certainly still be worried about our national debt, but it doesn't even come close to making the financial position of the US look bad. We are still a very rich country.

  • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday March 27, 2020 @04:32PM (#59879640)

    Let's assume that we'll have 100 million people getting those 1200 bucks, let's add the 500 per child and pretend that we'll thus actually spend about 200 billion on people. Another 877 billion on businesses and 100 billions for hospitals. I'm not even going to comment on proportionality here, what did you expect from this government?

    But there's still a couple billions missing to 2 trillions. Where do they go?

    • Another 877 billion on businesses and 100 billions for hospitals. I'm not even going to comment on proportionality here, what did you expect from this government?

      To be fair... Some of the funds for businesses are loans that will be forgiven if the companies follow specific rules, like keep people on the payroll (and/or re-hire those just laid off) even if they're out sick/quarantined. Companies receiving funds are also prohibited from using the money for stock buybacks and dividends, etc...

    • That's the basic observation. This is more socialism for the rich.
      The part where I have my doubet is that this government would be exceptional in that respect.

    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      JFK Center for Performing Arts and other 'national security' issues like Boeing, amongst others.

      There are also extra $500M funds for NASA and pretty much every government institution that exists.

      There is a ton of money going to states and counties

      Also there are >320M people in the US. 320M * 1200 = ~400B.

      • Not all of those 320,000,000 U.S. citizens are adults, by the way, families that make little enough to qualify for the handout get $500 per kid.
    • Trump: "This proves the wall near Mexico won't be enough. We need a wall around the ENTIRE country including Alaska and Hawaii."

  • "Trump has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his companies six times. "

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      Yeah, and that doesn't count how much he's in hock to the Russians. They won't give a flying rat's ass about Chapter 11. It's a bitch being Putin's Poodle.

      • Please elaborate. What exactly do you think Putin can do to any current or former US president?

        Let's suppose you're 100% correct about whatever it is that you think Trump "owes" Putin. Next suppose that Trump doesn't give a damn and completely ignores the supposed debt. Please describe Putin's next steps. What exactly does he do and why Trump should be shaking in his boots?

      • So what do you think of Bernie and Biden since we have more actually evidence of russia giving them support?
    • A sovereign nation with fiat currency doesn't go bankrupt on debt in its own currency unless it's completely politically incapable. It will always be better to just pay off the debt with printed money (QE).

      So it completely depends on how incapable congress is the next time the debt ceiling is hit. I think if they really let it get to the point of the US government becoming delinquent on bond payments, the president should declare martial law and put them out of their misery.

    • They don't go bankrupt in the traditional way. Instead, the price of their bonds and currency falls out of bed. Generally, foreigners won't lend the country money because they're defaulting on bonds. They might try to "solve" this problem by printing more of their own currency, but this just leads to hyperinflation.

      People are still buying our T-bills hand over fist so we're not there yet. In fact the T-bills are at historic low yields, ie, everybody wants them because they're amazingly still regarded as

      • I think they want the T-bills because they can be used to buy oil, but yeah... that's also part of why we get stuck in the middle east nonsense all the time and lots of stupid wars...

    • Yeah he did it because it made business sense. Look at the people who blew billions opening this place up only to close it in two years! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by dcw3 ( 649211 )

      Declaring six bankruptcies when running 500 businesses is a pretty fucking good track record.

      The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner.
      Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 30% of small business fail in their second year, and 50% of small businesses fail after five years in business. Finally, 70% of small business owners fail in their 10th year in business.
      Source: https://www.fund [fundera.com]

    • by rldp ( 6381096 )

      how many businesses have you started and ran?

  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Friday March 27, 2020 @04:59PM (#59879772) Journal
    If the loans are available to all and sundry, including those companies that use all kinds of tax dodging like moving HQ to cayman islands or keep cash abroad to avoid us taxes, then what is the point?

    There is no incentive to say in usa and pay taxes. You dont have to chip in your share, but you can claim all the hand outs...

  • Those of you who whined about the boomers...

    If you supported this... you just did the same thing. Your children will be paying for this. We took a bad situation and just made it worse.

    And to think... we are still not done fucking this up. Stay tuned folks... it going to get worse.

  • Since sizeable part of the US debt is owned by China, and the US debt is essentially impossible to repay, the Chinese will pay for it.

  • It sounded like every adult that isn't claimed as a dependent deduction on your taxes and has an SSN gets some stimulus money.

    What about kids that are 17-18 and living at home finishing high school, didn't earn any taxable income in the last tax year, and you couldn't claim them as a dependent (they turned 17 too soon)? Do they get paid anything, and if so, how/when? Or are they SOL?

    I just happen to have two kids in this "dead zone" of coverage (the older one is an 18 year old just got his first real tax-pa

    • by jred ( 111898 )
      If they are in school you can claim them until 24 or 25. It's been that way for a few years now.
      • Oh yeah, thanks jred! I mentally jumbled "tax credit eligible" (can't be 17) vs. "dependent" (can't be 19 unless a student, etc.).
  • You can read the bill yourself here.

    "O:\HEN\HEN20312.xml [file 1 of 2]"

    ... that's some really weird xml right there!

  • At least he has the sense to know when a steamroller is headed his way (House and Senate). For the life of me though I don't understand why I'm getting a $1200 check when I'm employed and this has no financial impact on me other than the extra donations I've been sending out. If I really do get a check it will all go to charity for people who need it more.
    • You are getting a check simply because the problem of determining whether you should have one would add a lot of extra complexity in determining who really needs one (political mess pending), and in implementing a filter to enact that political decision.

      For many of our countrymen, that could mean the difference between starvation, and survival.

    • If you're making plenty of money this year, I think it ends up working out as a prepayment against your tax refund next year. Unless you're not due a refund, in which case it's somehow not owed back. It's very confusing.

  • Apparently 2 days. Stock on red again.

The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.

Working...